Five tech stocks you should be watching this year

If 2017 was all about Bitcoin, here are five tech stocks you should be keeping your eyes on over the next 10 months.

The West Australian

VideoIf 2017 was all about Bitcoin, here are five tech stocks you should be keeping your eyes on over the next 10 months.

It was impossible to talk about technology investment last year without mentioning “that” word.

“Bitcoin” became a household name and something every old mate at the pub had a lead on or knew a mate in on some blockchain you weren’t.

But if last year was all about cryptocurrency, according to “the experts” this year is all about data centres, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence.

For the average punter, trying to understand an AI play is like making sense of Donald Trump’s Twitter feed (have a look at Perth’s Brainchip if you want an example), but there are some tech stocks in the aforementioned fields — and outside of those — that could be in for an interesting year.

Vocus

12-month high: $4.80 (Feb 22)

Low: $2.27 (Sept 1)

Friday: $2.37

It’s been a catastrophic 18 months for the Australia-wide telecommunications provider.

Profit downgrades, two failed takeover bids, a $1.5 billion net loss and general share price malaise (after its original plunge in mid-to-late 2016).

And that’s without even mentioning the lingering potential class action from its shareholders.

But, and it’s a big but, could 2018 mark the year it bottoms out, turns and runs?

This week Vocus announced a structural upheaval, with four new operating segments: enterprise and government; wholesale and international; consumer; and New Zealand.

It has expansive array of data centres (an area tipped to be a huge growth zone in 2018) and closer to home it also looks like the front-runner in the slowest race known to man: the race to build a new Perth to Singapore submarine internet cable, with its cable set to be laid next month.

Maybe, just maybe, the structural turmoil which dogged its post-takeover spree operations may be behind it.

Its share price is hovering around four-year lows (pre Amcom, M2, Nextgen takeovers) and though it’d take a brave investor to jump in now, a bargain price ain’t too far away.

Camera IconThe “slow race” to build a cable from Perth to Singapore.Picture: Vocus

DigitalX

12-month high: 41¢

(January 9, 2017)

Low: 3¢ (January 22, 217)

Friday: 22¢

Though bitcoin is about as stable as a dinner date with Kim Jong Un and Rodrigo Duterte, it’s impossible to write a list such as this without including some reference to the digital currency — so we may as well stay local.

The Perth-based blockchain technology company offers consultancy and software development in the area, and recently advised Perth-based bright spark Power Ledger on its $34 million Initial Coin Offering raising (a raising using bitcoin — which was an Australian first).

The company has quite the history. It was co-founded by former rich lister Zhenya Tsvetnenko — who is now facing multiple charges in a US Federal Court over his alleged role in a text messaging scam. But that was a long time ago, with the company parting ways with Tsvetnenko back in mid 2016 — well before the bitcoin boom.

Its shares ran hard on the back of the bitcoin’s run late last year and early this year but has, predictably, deflated of late. And DigitalX’s year ahead will be a bumpy ride for any investor (who knows where bitcoin will go) but one that will be entertaining at the very least.

Finance News Presenter Meilin Chew explains what blockchain can do and why it is gaining recognition in the financial world.

The West Australian

VideoFinance News Presenter Meilin Chew explains what blockchain can do and why it is gaining recognition in the financial world.

Fastbrick Robotics

12-month high: 28¢ (August 23)

Low: 8¢

(January 22, 2017)

Friday: 16.5¢

The WA company that’s every brickie’s worst nightmare is set for a defining year. Since its formation the product, a one-armed automatic robot bricklayer, has been slowly kicking goals.

And in 2017 it kicked some bombs between the big sticks. The company penned an MOU with Caterpillar in June, signed a non-binding deal to supply about 100 home-building robots to Saudi Arabia in August and on the back of that share price bump raised $35 million in November.

Just this week it announced the formation of an advisory committee to help it expand and launch a commercial version of its robot. But now it comes to crunch period: locking down contracts and partners, constructing the robot itself and bloody selling the thing.

The commercial bricklaying robot is expected to cost about $2 million when it goes into full production in 2019. But there is one constant in all of this: more people need more homes. Kinda makes sense that a robot would do it.

A time lapse of Fastbrick Robotics hard at work

The West Australian

VideoA time lapse of Fastbrick Robotics hard at work

Roots Sustainable Agriculture Technologies

12-month high: 60¢ (January 15, 2017)

Low: 20¢ (IPO)

Friday: 46¢

What?! An agri-science play not involved in medical marijuana? How dare they ...

But Roots Sustainable Agriculture Technologies is just that. The Perth-headquartered, Israel-based company is setting itself to produce precision tech to enhance plant growth under all sorts of weather conditions, improve crop yield and quality and provide off-grid irrigation.

We’ve all been reading about food shortages and sustainability, so it’s no surprise Roots’ share price has been on a bit of a run since it went live on the boards in December after raising $5 million at 20¢ through an IPO. It hit 60¢ last week ... must be doing something right.

Neurotech

12-month high: 35¢(September 27)

Low: 17¢ (September 25)

Friday: 16.5¢

With so much talk about ethical investing these days, it is hard to look past Neurotech.

The WA-based company is focused on developing affordable technologies to help treat autism in children.

Its Mente Autism device monitors a child’s brain waves using a head band, measuring changes in brain activity through sounds to help relax the child’s mind, enabling them to focus.

The company is in the process of obtaining FDA approval, with a final submission slated for early 2018, and just this week announced the end of a critical trial, with the results expected in the coming months.